Inclusion: Introduction

In preparation for this week’s discussion, please think about the Basic Homework Questions as you read it. Mark in your copy of the book or in your notebook which paragraphs pertain to these questions for you. Include your thoughts as to how they pertain to it. You’ll be ready to engage in discussion with the Group.

Then come back to this page and check out the additional questions and thoughts from past courses that St. John’s MCC people have had about the section that are listed below....

“The whole world is saved, they just don’t know it.” Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? (p. 1)

“We redeemed and reconciled all of humanity at Calvary. That is what the Cross was and is all about.” How does that statement make you feel? (p. 4)

Quote on p. 5: “The moment we fully and vitally realize who and what we are, we then begin to build our own world even as God builds his.” Agree or disagree?

“Being Christ-like doesn’t necessarily mean being a Christian; after all, neither Christ nor God is.” (p. 5)

According to Pearson, “the whole world is saved.” What is the world saved from in your opinion? (pp. 5-6)

“We do not need to be saved from God; we need to be saved from religion.” (p. 6) How do being Christ-like and being “religious” differ?

“It is time to change. But we cannot change our outer world until we change our inner world. . . As Robert Farrar Capon declared, ‘The truth that makes us free is always ticking away like a time bomb in a basement of everybody’s church.’” (p. 6)

“Religion resists progress. It is a form of witchcraft with which man has become familiar.” What does he mean by “witchcraft”? (p. 7)

“Religion is the ‘plantation’ on which many people live as slaves or indentured servants. They assume they are better off in the care of the manipulators of their faith than in the freedom and grace God has provided for them. . . . the ‘spiritual emancipator’ of slaves to sin, death and human error is Christ . . . not Christianity.” (p. 7) Thoughts?

Who is the “Christian’s” God? (p. 8)

“The so-called word of God, referred to as the Bible, is less the true logos (Greek for “meaningful thought”) of God but rather the word of man about God, as man perceives Him or Deity.” (p. 8)

“It is more important to believe what Jesus taught about God than what the churches have taught us about Jesus.” (p. 9)

Quote on p. 9: “The first thing that goes when you begin to think is your theology. If you stick too long to a theological point of view, you become stagnant without vitality.”

John Milton Quote on p. 10

“I believe that Christians and all people deserve the freedom not only to think, but to ask questions and question answers.” (p. 10)